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Special Effects by Ofri Cnaani

Can you see a trick while it's happening? Andrea Meislin Gallery announces Special Effects,
Ofri Cnaani's solo exhibition at the gallery, featuring a new
series of cyanotypes, prints and a media installation, titled Magic on
Hold, explores how trickery is generated. An assemblage of low-fi
moviemakers, photographs of slides, cameras and other devices give the
viewer a rare sense of visual unrest.

Opening reception Thursday, April 26, from 6-8 pm.

526 W 26th St #214, NYC NY 10001

On view APRIL 26 - JUNE 2, 2012

On May 5, 2012, Andrea Meislin Gallery will present a live radio play, written and performed by Cheryl Kaplan, titled Press Hold To Talk, based on Cnaani's works.

Cnaani's cyanotypes invent often enigmatic scenarios as film celluloid,
silhouettes, paper cut-outs, tiny objects and broken glass are placed
over blue photosensitive paper. This photographic print process is known
as a blueprint. Cnaani's photographic work and prints are a
continuation of her live-cinema performances. Oddly, Cnaani is working in photography without a camera. Her interest
in technological failure has led her to create images that belong
neither to conventional photography nor to painting. Magic on Hold,
features a series of moviemakers that act as projection devices located
on transparent tabletops. While appearing sculptural, the installation
directs the viewer's gaze away from the tabletop to the space of the
gallery, where shadows and imagery abound in constant movement.

Cnaani is interested in experimental photographic and cinematic
depictions of light that promote states of flux while making no attempt
to hide the means of production. Equal attention is paid to projector
and image as the tension between reality and illusion is explored.
Ultimately, Cnaani's image-making devices and prints give the viewer a
glimpse backstage, to look, eye to eye, at where trickery lives.

Cheryl Kaplan's radio play, Press Hold To Talk, uses the
format of a late Victorian era "problem picture" to present both a
theatrical work and critique to portray an unresolved dilemma. Acting as
diversion and debate, Press Hold To Talk
locates Cnaani's obsession with crooks and spies as a contemporary
dramatic event. Cnaani's interest in cameos, necklaces and newspapers
turns out to be a classic Hitchcock plot device which is meant to catch
the viewer's attention, often falsely. A special limited print edition
of Press Hold To Talk— available both at the gallery and on its
website— includes visual work by Ofri Cnaani and the radio play by
Cheryl Kaplan. This is the second collaboration between Kaplan and
Cnaani. Their first project, Public Notice, a live cinema performance, was shown at the BMW Guggenheim Lab in New York in 2011.

Cnaani was a Six Points Fellow and two-time winner of the America-Israel
Cultural Foundation award. After showing in New York and Tel-Aviv,
Cnaani's Sota Project will be traveling to Macro Contemporary Art
Museum, Rome and the University of Southern California Fisher Museum of
Art, Los Angeles in 2012.